Case Number 09762

ENTER THE DRAGON (HD DVD)

The Charge

You have offended my family and you have offended the Shaolin Temple.

Opening Statement

Inarguably, Enter the Dragon has been the pinnacle of cinematic
martial arts experiences ever since its release in 1973. Among fans and other
enthusiasts, Bruce Lee's final film is revered as the picture that legitimized
the martial arts genre within American borders and properly catapulted the very
capable star in what would be a film career tragically cut short.

Now, in proper reverence to this cult and pop-culture classic, Warner Home
Video presents Enter the Dragon in a full-featured HD DVD edition,
sporting an enhanced quality that will have you flinching at every
high-kick.

Facts of the Case

Lee (Bruce Lee) is a Shaolin monk who has been enlisted by an intelligence
agency to track down the nefarious Han (Kien Shih, Bastard Kung Fu
Master). Joining three other martial arts experts, Lee travels to Han's
remote island to participate in a martial arts tournament. The tournament is a
ruse that Han utilizes to attract and enlist the best fighters to help
perpetuate his drug smuggling affairs. Lee's interest in exposing and accosting
Han goes beyond drugs: the drug lord had previously disgraced the Shaolin Temple
and was responsible for the death of Lee's own sister. The tournament spans
several days, each revealing the incomparable martial arts prowess of the
contenders while also resulting in the deaths of those guests who are probing
too deeply into Han's covert operations.

The Evidence

Without a doubt, Enter the Dragon is saddled with an undeniable camp
value some three decades since its original release. It's rife with overdone
sound effects -- imagine 1x4 fir strips smacking together whenever fist meets
skin -- and the perpetual kiai that, while authentic, has been irreverently
parodied (usually bastardized into "hiigh-yaahh!") and can elicit
unintentional giggles. The mysteriousness of the Shaolin style and the unusual
methods of focus and composure exhibited by its practitioners have woefully been
misunderstood and perhaps too often played for laughs. This challenges
appreciation of Enter the Dragon today: an indiscriminate foe born out of
disrespect that would incite ignorance over enlightenment in viewers. Sure, it
would be funny until the first snap-kick shatters a shin bone.

Enter the Dragon is definitely dated (as are most films from the 70s)
and it suffers from viewers' awareness of its sources of commercial inspiration.
It's important that the picture was the first of its genre to be co-produced by
American and Hong Kong studios, therefore helping it gain greater release
stateside. However, the American penchant to make it "market friendly"
is also what hinders. Clearly, the plot appears to have been borrowed from an
early draft of the 1967 James Bond entry You Only Live Twice. For Bond
aficionados, the various plot elements are practically plagiaristic: the
villain's remote island, the underground complex, the martial arts training
squad, and even the white Persian cat. Add to this the casting of John Saxon
(Blood Beach) as the American martial arts expert, Roper. Oddly enough,
his dark features and furrowed brow make him look something akin to a poor man's
Sean Connery (right down to the ill-fitted hairpiece). Saxon puts on a suave
showing and manages to be relatively competent in his fight sequences, yet the
performance is definitely of 70s vintage. A non-Bond twist here (unless you
loosely adapt the casting from 1972's Live and Let Die) is the inclusion
of Jim Kelly (Black Belt Jones) as the other American contestant,
Williams. Kelly, with his signature large 'fro, would find follow-on success in
the "black martial arts" sub-genre and was properly qualified to add
realism to his combat sequences here. Again, more 70s fare that can be difficult
for some to look past during a current-day screening.

But when it comes to Bruce Lee, his work has proven to be timeless.
Responsible for staging all of the fight sequences in Enter the Dragon,
Lee's presence and performance transcend any distractions arising from the
film's dated sensibilities and style. Without a doubt, Lee can act and is
certainly compelling in his steely-eyed, well-controlled assessments of the
situations around him. Utilizing his natural voice in this film, Lee is fun to
watch and his cool and confidence lend themselves to some well-handled moments
of humor that are sprinkled throughout the film. Lee himself had noted that his
intention here was to provide audiences insight into his cultural beliefs and
the deeply spiritual aspects of his fighting style ("My style? You could
call it the art of fighting without fighting."), properly and
responsibly communicating that the martial artist does not seek out conflict and
would often prefer to avoid it, sometimes allowing his would-be opponent to
essentially "fight himself." This philosophy of Lee's is able to
expand beyond the confines of the dated plot and preserves the genuine interest
of his art of empty-handed combat. Of course, Enter the Dragon may be
most notable for the nunchaku sequence and Lee's effortless wrangling of the
then-obscure fighting implement, earning key placement within the film's key
art. In all, when the fighting gets going in earnest, it never lets up right up
until the still-mesmerizing "hall of mirrors" face off.

It's appropriate that Warner Home Video has recognized the importance of
Enter the Dragon by making it an early entry in the growing HD DVD
library. As with the earlier HD mastering of Blazing Saddles, it is
compelling to see how the advanced format can improve a thirty-year-old film.
The result is a qualified "very good." Given the original budget and
production values of Enter the Dragon, it's foolhardy to expect it to
have been suppressing tremendous levels of depth and detail all these decades.
Whereas Blazing Saddles proved to be an honest-to-goodness revelation
when given the HD treatment, Enter the Dragon is somewhat less consistent
in its final result. The picture quality is clearly an improvement over the 2004
two-disc standard definition (SD) release yet it can't quite shake some of the
inherent troubles with its source material. Most often, the picture is sharp,
deep, and well rendered. The overhead shots of the Hong Kong harbor are quite
striking and the final sequences in the hall of mirrors look terrific. Other
times, the image softens and the color palette dulls down, obviously a
limitation of the source material. This level of inconsistency is never
unbearable but you will see the frequent shift as the film runs its course.
Nevertheless, the transfer is free of compression artifacts and is presented in
a 2.40:1 aspect ratio, natively anamorphic in the HD format.

The audio is presented in the expected Dolby Digital-Plus 5.1 mix unique to
the HD DVD format. The mix is clean and sharp (especially all those body hits)
but the bulk of the content resides within the front three channels. The true
beneficiary of the rear channels is Lalo Schifrin's excellent score, its themes
also being reminiscent of John Barry's work on some Bond films yet definitely
distinct and bearing obvious lineage to Mission: Impossible. The score
enjoys an extended soundstage in this mix and adequately compensates for the
lack of directional effects in the rear speakers. The LFE channel, however,
doesn't get very much of a workout here.

As for extras, Warner Home Video once again shows wisdom by porting over all
the bonus material as was delivered in the 2004 Special Edition SD release. This
equates to roughly six hours of additional content, many hits but some misses.
The audio commentary is provided by co-producer Paul Heller and screenwriter
Michael Allin. Both tend to be too reserved in their comments, lapsing into
silence too often yet delivering some interesting observations when they decide
to perk up. Four documentaries follow, the best of which is Blood and Steel:
The Making of Enter the Dragon. This 2003-produced 30-minute
backstory delves into the origin of the film, its casting and production design,
and the language barriers the accompanied the American/Hong Kong joint venture.
Next up is Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey, a 90-minute offering produced
in 2000 that spends its first half with Lee the man and its second half with
material from his unfinished feature, Game of Death. Another lengthy
documentary follows in the form of Bruce Lee: The Curse of the Dragon,
narrated by George Takei (Star Trek) and focused on Lee's untimely death
and the coincidence that may bear on the likewise premature death of his son
twenty years later. Lastly, the documentaries round out with Bruce Lee: In
His Own Words, a nineteen minute interview piece produced in 1998. If all of
this hasn't satisfied you, there's still more including a 15-minute interview
gallery with Lee's wife, Linda Lee Caldwell, the home movies of Lee's backyard
workout, an original 1973 featurette from Enter the Dragon and numerous
TV spots and theatrical trailers.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

But perhaps you believe the earlier assertions that Enter the Dragon
is afflicted by outdated 70's sensibility and style. Fair enough, because, just
as this can work against a latter-day screening of a picture, it simultaneously
works for the film to infuse an element of nostalgic interest. This
doesn't render the film as any sort of "cute throwback" but, rather,
reminds us of the film's origin and reestablishes its success in propelling the
martial arts genre within the States. It's also a highly important film since it
showcases Lee's abilities (martial arts as well as acting) and was instrumental
in elevating the late actor to pop-icon status. While there have been many other
competent martial arts performers/practitioners since Lee, none have yet usurped
his near-mythic standing atop the genre.

Closing Statement

Despite its vintage, Enter the Dragon remains an engaging picture
that's fun, a bit funky, and largely entertaining. Lee's skills on display,
coupled with his subtle-yet-precise acting, make this an enduring feature that
belongs in a well-diversified film library. The new HD transfer delivers the
best rendition of the film to date and is definitely worth a look. The inclusion
of all the features from the Special Edition SD release makes this a high-value
purchase for first-time buyers or even double-dippers. A recommended purchase,
to be sure.